Leading Indian Crypto Exchange Zebpay Forced to Shut Down Exchange due to RBI’s Banking Freeze

All unexecuted orders will be cancelled and credited to users Zebpay wallets

Supreme court hearing likely to drag for long

Zebpay, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in India, has announced suspending all exchange services effective Friday, September 28, 2018, at 4 PM. Users have until 4 PM to execute any orders after which any balances will be credited to their Zebpay wallets.

Zebpay Shuts Exchange

The closure results from a banking ban by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the cryptocurrency industry, which took effect on July 5, 2018. The ban prevents all banks from extending any services to customers engaging in cryptocurrency transactions. The exchange sent an official tweet to its customers stating that its wallet service will remain functional. The tweet read:

“We are stopping our exchange. At 4 PM today, we will cancel unexecuted orders & credit your coins to your Zebpay wallet. No new orders will be accepted. The Zebpay wallet will work even after the exchange stops.”

In late June, Zebpay cautioned that fiat withdrawals would become impossible due to the looming banking ban that was taking effect on 5th July 2018 and stopped all fiat deposits and withdrawal on 4th July, a day ahead of the deadline. The coin and token deposit and withdrawal services were still operational besides there being a crypto-to-Rupee and crypto-to-crypto exchange services going on.

Zebpay was launched in 2015 when it traded as an App-only service before it became India’s most downloaded Bitcoin wallet and exchange Application. Using its functional Know Your Customer (KYC) model, the exchange has reached over 500,000 downloads on the popular Android Smartphone by mid-2017 before hitting the million mark during 2017’s bear run in October. The company predicts over half a million new users are joining their platform monthly up from the current 200,000 new users coming in monthly currently.

Millions Affected

On its website, Zebpay shows it has 3 million users using its iOS and Android apps, with support for 20 cryptocurrencies and 22 trading pairs. Many had expected it to weather the storm that is the standing RBI Ban. However, the exchange stated in a press release:

“The curb on bank accounts has crippled our services and our customer’s, ability to transact business meaningfully. At this point, we are unable to find a reasonable way to conduct the cryptocurrency exchange business.”

India’s Supreme Court was supposed to hear all petitions regarding the April 6, 2018 blanket cryptocurrency ban by the country’s central bank on Tuesday, September 11, 2018. However the court adjourned without hearing and has been postponed two other times due to cases running over time.

Entrepreneur and freelance writer based in Nakuru, Kenya. I cover cryptocurrency, the Blockchain technology, and financial topics. It’s my joy to transform the simplest phrases in a way they reach a reader’s heart to help them discover how crypto is disrupting the world as we have known it. I believe in transforming the world, one word at a time.

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